Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian discussed the prevailing situation with India following a dreadful terror attack that claimed 26 lives, with more injured, in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam.
The Iranian president expressed willingness to de-escalate rising tensions between the two nuclear-armed, hostile neighbours, reports said.
On April 22, terrorists killed 26 people, mostly tourists, in what has been described as the deadliest attack on tourists in the past 25 years. Initially, the press release issued by one of the offshoot organisations belonging to Lashkar claimed responsibility for the attack.
However, the suspected group later issued another statement ruling out their involvement in the deadly assault.
Since the incident, the nuclear-armed nations have launched a raft of measures against each other, with India unilaterally suspending the critical Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) and Pakistan retaliating by threatening to put the Shimla Agreement in abeyance and closing its airspace to Indian flights.
Reports from mainstream Indian television channels immediately linked Pakistan with the attack. However, Islamabad has denied any involvement, stating they are “open to a neutral and impartial probe into the incident.”
Iran is among the few nations in the world that have good bilateral relations with both South Asian neighbours. President Pezeshkian has offered to mediate to ease tensions following the attack, a move Islamabad has welcomed as the clouds of war hover over the region.
“Pakistan condemns all forms of terrorism and has no connection to the recent terrorist attack in Pahalgam, located in the Indian-held Kashmir region,” the statement read.
Political leadership from both sides is under immense pressure due to the attack. The Pakistani government, already under scrutiny for alleged election rigging, will be trying to consolidate power as resentment among the people against the government has grown significantly in recent times.
On the other hand, there has been a massive public outcry from the Indian side over what has now been called a massive security and intelligence failure on the part of Indian agencies, which led to this gruesome attack.
Meanwhile, the prime minister has repeatedly reiterated that his government will eradicate the nexus of terrorism and its handlers located both in Kashmir and on the Pakistani side.
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